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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24268897">An Introspection</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alxq/pseuds/alxq'>alxq</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:42:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24268897</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alxq/pseuds/alxq</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An introspection on Catra and Adora after everything that has happened, by Catra and Adora themselves.<br/>Or, how they learned to love each other again, after getting through all the mess and anger and fear that exploded on them for years on end.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Who is Catra?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally supposed to be a comic but I'm lazy, so a drabble it is then!<br/>There is an Adora-centric, Catra-POV one. I'll write that sometime later.</p><p>Set sometime after the series finale but there's no spoilers whatsoever.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were three new freckles across Catra's face. Adora noticed it when she was gently cupping her face to scratch behind her ears, a thumb grazing across her cheeks.</p>
<p>She was counting each one under her breath like a mantra. <em>...48...49...50...51...</em></p>
<p>She got distracted from her discovery when Catra caught her thumb and nipped at it gently, her eyes twinkling with mischief.</p><hr/>
<p>Catra's hair grew by an inch or two. Catra huffed, wondered why her body couldn't do that instead and Adora laughed in response.</p>
<p>Adora offered to cut it for her if she doesn't like it. Her fingers ran through Catra's hair, soft and wild.</p>
<p>Catra hummed at the touch. The discussion was benched for another day.</p><hr/>
<p>Catra's scars started blending with her fur, almost looking like the stripes that adorn her shoulders.</p>
<p>Adora was tracing each one; others were bumpy and ragged from healing badly, some almost invisible unless she felt for it, most were made with fear and regret.</p>
<p>None of them were an angry red anymore and she couldn't help but kiss them with all the care in the world.</p><hr/>
<p>Catra asks Adora for anything she wants. She still hid every now and again but now it's usually because she chewed and clawed on something to shreds.</p>
<p>She doesn't doubt herself when she reaches for Adora's hand, and whines to get her to stay in bed for just a few more minutes.</p>
<p>She finally accepted that Adora isn't going to leave, not like that, not anymore, and learned that love becomes easy and simple and wonderful with the right people.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Who is Adora?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>An introspection on Catra and Adora after everything that has happened, by Catra and Adora themselves.<br/>Or, how they learned to love each other again, after getting through all the mess and anger and fear that exploded on them for years on end.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Adora remembered where Catra liked to be scratched. Her jaw, her ears, the space between her shoulder blades, and if she was lucky (and she always was), Catra would purr at each touch.</p><p>It helped her do something with her hands when she was stressed and it placated Catra when she was antsy. It grounded her.</p><p>Both of them come out with faces flushed, glowing bright.</p>
<hr/><p>Catra liked to draw whenever it was physically possible. She drew on the dirt with a sharp nail, cross hatching on scraps of paper, on Adora's hands when she was preoccupied with something that wasn't Catra.</p><p>Their bedroom walls were filled to the brim with whatever popped up in her mind at the time. All of them had doodle Catra and doodle Adora having fun together.</p><p>Adora drew with her, carefree and jovial, and always made sure the markers were full.</p>
<hr/><p>Some days were hard for Adora, because she would be looking at Catra one moment and crying the next.</p><p>She felt she couldn't fully reconcile with her past mistakes with Catra, or Catra's with her. The ache in their chests throbbed painfully.</p><p>It's a trying, excruciating process for both of them but they kept trying, headstrong but gentle, until they rested easily in their sleep for the first time in a long time.</p>
<hr/><p>Adora hadn't shown She-Ra in a while now. There was no need to bring her out.</p><p>She doesn't miss it, especially when she found out that Adora meant so much more to everyone than She-Ra ever could.</p><p>How Adora meant to herself and everything that she ever sacrificed for Etheria and how she learned to just <em>be</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>That's it folks! Maybe I will add another chapter to draw out the comic I had planned. If I do, well, let's just see how it goes, yeah?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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